BYD pilots 1,000kW charging, adding 250 miles of range in five minutes

BYD has revealed charging technology that it says can add almost 250 miles of range in just five minutes – or nearly one mile per second. It has recorded peak speeds of up to 1000kW (one megawatt), which is more than three times quicker than a Porsche Taycan (320kW) – itself one of the fastest-charging cars on sale.

Based on a 1,000-volt electrical architecture, the ‘Super-e’ platform has been showcased on the Chinese-market BYD Han L saloon and Tang L SUV, neither of which is currently sold in Europe or the UK.

At the launch event, Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and President of BYD Group, claimed the new tech would “help to wipe out the biggest remaining ‘pain point’ for electric-vehicle users”. He said: “To completely eliminate users’ charging anxiety, our goal is to make EV charging as fast as refuelling a gasoline car – achieving ‘oil-electric parity’ in charging speed.”

While it’s widely accepted that charge speeds slow above 80 per cent, BYD’s latest systems have apparently achieved more than 600kW at 90 per cent state of charge. 

To allow for such speeds, BYD has developed its own liquid-cooled 1,360kW ultra-rapid DC chargers. The company apparently plans to build over 4,000 stations across China, although it hasn’t yet given a timeframe for the network’s installation – nor said whether it has any European or UK relevance.

BYD says the technology also supports a new generation of electric motors, meaning future models could boast more than 1,000bhp in their most potent form. This gives both the Han L and Tang L a top speed of more than 186mph.

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